Snape and Lily
by Robin Purdy
Summary: Snape finds out where Lily's heart truly lies... A bit sad, sorry... My first story, so please tell me what you think :


_**Lily and Snape**_

Year 6

**CHAPTER 1**

The Three Broomsticks was packed full of Hoqwarts students, for it was one of the few warm refuges in Hogsmeade on this freezing cold day. It was busy and pleasant inside.

Lily Evans' nose was bright pink, and her cheeks were flushed. Several snowflakes were stuck in her hair and some spotted her cloak, which she had pulled tightly around her, trying to block out the cold. Snape looked at her, and it was hard for him to pull his eyes away to find an empty table, because she looked so beautiful.

Snape steered Lily through the crowded room to an empty table near the back. He sat down opposite her, smiling.

"Two butterbeers, please," he said to a plump waitress with an orange dress.

"You really didn't have to do this…" Lily said.

"Yes I do," Snape said. "You would do the same. In fact, you _do_ do the same."

Lily blushed a dark red around the ears.

"Oh," Snape said joyfully as he reached into his robes, "I made you something."

He extracted a card from a hidden pocket inside his robes. It had the words, "Happy Birthday" written on the front, and he had done a spell to make the colors change. Lily smiled and flipped the card open. Something fell from it. It was a photograph of them when they were in their first year, smiling and laughing at each other. Like every other picture in the wizarding world, the figures moved. Lily had one of her arms around Snape's neck, pulling them close together.

Lily's smile widened when she saw the photo.

"I'll put it next to my bed," she said, still staring at the photograph. "So I'll see it every night before I go to bed and every morning when I wake up."

"You like it, then?" Snape felt a bit nervous, he hadn't been sure if should would have liked it.

"Oh, no, I don't _like_ it," Snape's heart fell. He knew this was going to happen. "I _love_ it!" Snape smiled. It was always like Lily to do this.

Lily turned back to the card Snape had given her. It was simple, but it still touch Lily's heart. Snape's messy scrawl said,

"Dear Lily,

"You are the brightest witch I know, and you are also the kindest person I will ever met. I'm glad I've known you for this long. The photo that you found inside this card is of us in our first year of Hogwarts, and I gave it to you so you can remember how long we've been friends. Have a wonderful birthday!

"Your friend, Severus"

Lily looked up from the card. Snape had slumped down in the chair, his head barely visible. She could tell he was red in the face.

"Oh, Sev," she sighed. "Thank you so much!"

"Er… should we get back to the castle? It's starting to get dark out," Snape said, trying to change the subject. Why had he made that stupid card? He felt like a fool, and Lily trying to cheer him up wasn't helping either. He knew she didn't really like it… the photo and the card would both end up in the trash in her dormitory by the end of the night.

"Thank you for the butterbeer, Sev," Lily said cheerfully. "It was a wonderful birthday. Do you know what made it so great?" She looked at him questioningly, her voice more soft.

"What?" Snape said.

"Spending it with my best friend," and with that, she put her arm around his shoulders, the exact same way she had done 5 years earlier in the photo. The feeling of her arm on him made Snape's stomach turn. He stuffed his small pale hands in his cloak's pockets as they left the Three Broomsticks.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" four dark figures had walked up to them. Three of them were considerably tall, and the third one looked as small as a mouse compared to them. The one who had spoke was James Potter.

"We were just celebrating my birthday, James," Lily said briskly.

"Oh, really? I didn't know it was your birthday," James said apologetically.

"Obviously," Snape said bitterly.

"What was that, Snivellus?" James said venomously.

"Don't call him Snivellus!" Lily screeched. She hovered protectively around Snape, although he wished she wouldn't. It made him look weaker, having a girl protect him.

"Ooooh! Looks like Snivellus has a _girlfriend_!" Sirius Black cooed behind James. James looked irritated at him. Sirius shrunk back to where he was standing before.

James turned back to Snape. Snape smirked at him.

"Stop looking so smug, Snivellus," James snapped.

Lily took a deep breath. "James, I said stop calling him that."

"Oh yeah? Why should I?"

"If you don't stop, I'll break up with you."

James looked a bit stunned, but it was nothing compared to how Snape felt. He looked at her, eyes wide, as if to say, 'You're going out with _him?_' Lily cowered a bit from Snape's look, but regained her courage as she turned to James again.

"That's right. You heard me."

"Look at all the trouble you've brought me, Snivellus!" James snapped at Snape. He quickly added as he saw Lily going up in fumes, "I didn't mean it, Lil, it was just a joke…"

"I don't care," she said. "Com on, Sev, let's go." She pulled on Snape's robes.

James, red with embarrassment and anger, raised his hand and slapped Lily hard on the face. She fell to the ground, grasping where he had hit her. A small tear welled up in the corner of her eye. This was enough. Snape couldn't take it anymore. Pulling out his wand, he charged upon James and pointed it at his face.

"If you touch her again, I swear I'll kill you," Snape threatened. James took a glance at Lily, then at Snape.

"Not a problem," He said flatly, and turned around to leave. After a few seconds, the Marauders had disappeared into the shadows.

"Are you hurt?" Snape asked Lily, extending a hand to help her up.

"I'm fine," she sniffed, taking his hand. She covered her face with her hands and started down the road to the castle.

"Let me look at it," Snape said, putting his hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off. "Please."

She turned to him and lowered her hands from her face. Her eyes had filled with tears, and a few started to stream down her face.

Snape touched the place where James had hit her. She flinched away. "Does it hurt when I touch it?" he asked. She nodded as more tears streamed down her face. "Come here," he said, motioning her to him. She came to his arms a bit cautiously. He held her firmly, and let her tears wet his shoulder, even though it was cold outside. They stood in silence as he watched the sun set, the sky an orange-gold. Finally, Lily spoke.

"H-he hit _me,"_ she sobbed, burying her head even deeper into his shoulder.

"We need to get back to the castle," Snape said, ignoring her statement.

They walked slowly to the castle, and it was pitch black when they finally got to its big, oaken doors. They slid silently into the castle, and bid each other farewell.

**CHAPTER 2**

Snape couldn't help but glare at James the morning of the next day. Lily was still very upset, and hadn't shown up to breakfast that morning. James acted as if the incident had never taken place. He was laughing merrily with the Marauders in before potions class, Professor Slughorn looking at them strangely. Snape sensed danger as Lily came into the classroom and James immediately stopped laughing.

"Lily... about last night..." James said apologetically, but Lily sniffed and turned away from him and sat down next to Snape. She buried her face in her arms, waiting for the class to start. Everyone had just watched the fiasco with James and Lily, and murmurs echoed through the dungeon classroom.

"What happened?"

"Weren't they dating?"

"Well, _I _heard that-"

"Does that mean that James is available?"

"Yeah I guess so, but I would rather go with Lily, me being a guy and all..."

"I heard that that Snape guy had something to do with it..."

Thankfully for Snape, James, and Lily, the bell for class to start rang. Slughorn had them fix a very difficult potion, so Snape and Lily weren't able to exchange words because they had to concentrate. When Slughorn dismissed them, Lily quickly walked out of the room, head bowed. Snape dashed after her, pushing past several confused Hufflepuffs in the process.

"Lily!" he called. She did not stop, only walked faster.

"Please, Lily..." But it was no use. She had already walked into the girl's bathroom. Snape gave up and headed towards his next class.

Snape didn't see Lily the rest of the day.

"_I _heard her crying in the girl's lavatory!" Bellatrix Lestrange cackled with glee as they walked to dinner.

The only good thing that happened during the day was that James had lost a bit of respect from all who knew Lily. Everyone loved her, except for the the Slytherins (Snape as an exception, of course), and tried to make James's day as horrible as possible. A Ravenclaw tried to hex him in the hall, and a Hufflepuff set loose a Devil's Snare on him during Herbology.

Snape glared at James as he filed into the hall to sit down with the other Slytherins.

"What's up?" Avery asked as he stuffed his mouth with Yorkshire pudding.

"Nothing," Snape said as he shrugged off the chicken leg offered by Nott. He couldn't eat, although his stomach growled with hunger. He had to know if Lily was alright.

"I need to go," he said suddenly as he pushed himself away from the table.

"Whe-?" Bellatrix asked, but she wasn't able to finish her question, for Snape had already jogged out of the Great Hall.

'I've go to find her,' he said to himself, turnng into the next corridor. A muffled sobbing sound met his ears as he turned the corner, and he knew that she was in the bathroom to his left.

"Shoot," he muttered as he failed at opening the door. "Stupid prefect's bathroom." The prefect's bathroom required a password, and Snape, not being a prefect, would never be allowed in until he guessed the right password. He decided to try all the ones he knew first. "Fligario." No luck. "Bloomslang skin." The door did not move an inch. "Betelgeuse." To his great surprise, the door swung open. The muffled sobbing now became full-blown, piercing cries, and he stepped inside to find Lily sitting in the bathtub, which held no water, crying into her hands. "Lily?" He said softly, inching toward her cautiously. She glanced up at him, and hastily tried to wipe away her tears.

"Hey Sev," she said nasally. Snape quickly sat down beside her. He conjured up a handkerchief with his long oak wand and dabbed the cloth to her eyes, which still had tears streaming out of them. "How," She blurted out, "could I be so _stupid_?"

"Hey, it's ok," Snape said, wanting very badly to hug her close to him, but he knew this would not be a good time.

"No it's not!" she yelled, covering her face with her hands again. "Why did I even go out with him? He is such an insolent..." her lip trembled as she tried to find a word to describe what James was. "An... an insolent... Toerag!" She finally cried, and she went to hide her face in her hands again.

For some reason, Snape's heart lightened a little. She had actually insulted _James Potter_. Perfect, charming, handsome, James Potter. Snape couldn't resist the temptation of putting his arm around her shoulders, and she didn't flinch or shrug it off when his hand gently brushed the back of her neck. She looked silently up at him.

She still looked beautiful, even though her eyes were red and swollen from crying. Her lips were perfect crimson, and looked so soft and welcoming. He couldn't help himself. Next thing he knew, they were both leaning in to kiss.

Right when her lips had slightly grazed his, electricity shot down through his spine, making him unable to move from the spot, not that he would have ever wanted to. It was total bliss, kissing this girl that he had loved since... well, since _always_. And what made it even better was that she was kissing him back. It seemed to last for eternity, and he never wanted it to stop, but a loud "Ahem" from behind him made them pull apart.

It was James. He was leaning against the wall, in his usual arrogant self, surveying the scene.

A hate that had never been inside of Snape boiled up inside him, and before he knew it, he was pinning James to the wall, his wand pointed at James's heart. Before James or Lily, who had her mouth in a round "O" of surprise, could react, Snape had already cast the curse of Sectemsempra. Red lines crossed James's chest, and soon began to bleed deeply.

James crumpled to the floor, his eyes wide, and Lily draped herself across him, fumbling for her wand.

"Sev, help me! Tell me the countercurse! Sev!" she pleaded after finally extracting her wand from the depths of her robes.

He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He turned and ran out of the door, afraid of what he had just done.

**Chapter 3**

Snape waited impatiently outside the Hospital Wing for Lily. It was the next morning. The night before, Snape had run off to his dormitory and flung himself behind the green curtains of his four-poster bed. He didn't sleep all night. He finally got out of his bed, disheveled, tired, and afraid, when morning came. He had made a beeline towards the Gryffindor common room, but was told by a seventh-year Slytherin girl that James was in the Hospital Wing, and Lily was by his bedside.

He hadn't of dared step foot in the Hospital Wing, he was sure to be flayed alive by James, who had surely recovered by now. He was probably going to tell his friends that a gigantic monster had cornered him and he had fought it off single-handedly. Snape shivered at the thought of the believing faces that would surround him.

About a minute before the bell for class rang, Lily walked hurriedly from the Hospital wing entrance, her hands carrying a load of books.

"Uh, I could help with that," Snape said as he took an _Encyclopedia of Herbs and Plants_ and the _Standard Book of Spells; Volume Six_ from the top of the pile.

"I don't want to talk to you," she said stubbornly, but she made no move to remove the books from Snape's hand.

"Why?" Snape said, feeling a bit angry.

"That was dark magic you used last night!" Lily accused, her eyes narrow slits as she glared at him. When he made no reply, she continued, "You don't even deny it! How could you, Sev, how could you?" Her voice had turned to pleading again.

"I don't know... It was the first thing I could think of," Snape said, drooping his head.

She shook her head disapprovingly.

"But what about the... the you-know-what, Lily? You're acting like it never happened!" Snape said in a hushed voice.

Lily looked around to make sure nobody was listening. "Sev, we kissed, yes. But that doesn't change the fact that you used _dark magic_. I can't live with the fact that you're doing it... We can't be in a relationship, but we'll always be friends, right?" she looked up into his dark, tunnel-like eyes as he stared down into her gorgeous green ones.

Snape didn't know what to say. He stood there stupidly, until the bell rang for class to start.

"Ugh, I'm late!" she said, walking fast again, clutching her books closely to her chest.

"I'll always love you!" Snape called after her. "Always." But she seemed to ignore him, and with three more steps, she had disappeared from behind the corner.


End file.
